Could have Mike Tyson reigned as champion for 3 years in the 1960's ?

Yeah, I can accept a great trainer and/or cornerman making the difference at crucial moments in crucial fights, but diehard Tyson fans more or less say that 50% of Tyson went with Rooney. He wasn't just the ace in the sleeve according to Tyson's fans, but the essence of his greatness. And if someone else is the essence of your greatness, you can't be that great.

 

Agree with the first statement but not the 2nd.

I believe he was born in 1928 and their is plenty of evidence to support this.

 

And you're a classic Ali fan. Now what? So you're not getting defensive about Ali's comp by denigrating Tyson's comp? Calling them crackheads and dope addicts, nice.

I guess you just exposed yourself. It happens.

 

Why'd you erase your reply to me?

 

Yes. As long as he stayed focused and well managed. I think he could have beaten Patterson, Johansson, Liston and even the young skittish version of Ali who was decked by Cooper and fought on even terms with Doug Jones. The rest of the crew like Williams, Folley, Machen Terrell, Chvualo, etc shouldn’t be a problem.

 

Bokaj's quip about Kevin Rooney was funny. I could tell he doesn't have a clear head when comparing Tyson's and Ali's competition. Should we take it further?

 

I agree with this hardheartedly. All these years, I thought I despised Tyson but when I actually watched him a couple weeks ago, to my surprise I found myself enjoying him and had sympathy for him through all his life problems. It was then that I realized, it wasn't Tyson I actually hated but his fanboys.

 

Says Bokaj. Mad that Tyson's pre-priosn comp might be better than Ali's pre-exile? This post seems to say so...

 

Do you hate his "fanboys" who make sound arguments? Or just hating because they make sound arguments you can't handle, like Bokaj?

 

Well, it can seem so if you really want it to, I suppose. But I can't see anything about opposition there, just a logical conclusion that if you're not great without someone else you're not great.

 

What exactly with this did you not understand?

"Well, mimicking your take on Ali's challengers: "Heroine addicts like Thomas, coke heads like Tubbs, never beens like Biggs, Berbick who couldn't beat the corpse of Ali convincingly, an old and rusty Holmes, a Spinks who just was there to cash out..."

And then:

"But I have no problems with Tyson's challengers. There is always going to be some past their primes, or at their primes but nothing special. It's like that for every champion. Tyson cleaned out those that were around, I have no issues with that. I was just translating your take on Ali's challengers to Tyson's. But you clearly couldn't handle that."

 

Tyson was 19 years old, in his 20th pro bout, and still beat Tillis convincingly. To use this to criticize Tyson is bizarre to say the least. And yes I do think Tyson was massively overrated.